Page 46 of Mark
“I am,” I assure her.
“Then you will come to the wedding?”
“No. I already told you I’m not going. I’m sick of the drama, Mum, so I’m removing myself from the equation.”
“Honey, please reconsider. Your sister is beside herself and it’s taken most of the day to calm her down. Danny is worried she’ll go through with her promise and cancel the wedding.”
“That sounds like a Danny problem. Not mine.”
“You’d only be proving everyone right if you let that happen,” she scolds.
“I didn’t make anything happen. I didn’t start the argument, Mum, and deep down, I think you know that. The argument would never have happened if people stopped dredging up old wounds that no longer factor into my life.”
“Please, Freya. Reconsider,” Dad pleads. “Your sister wants you there. She’s been getting nervous wedding jitters and didn’t mean to take it out on you.”
“Your father is right. Until they are married, Esther isn’t going to feel secure in their relationship. She’s worried feelings still harbour between the two of you.”
“This isn’t fair,” I whine. “You don’t get to put all of this on me.”
“We know. But it’s only for one day, Freya. One day. She needs you, and I think right now, you are too scared to admit you need her too,” Mum stresses.
I breathe out. “I will think about it. But if I hear one more reference made about me and Danny, I will go back home. And I mean it.”
“Thank you,” she breathes, her shoulders dropping.
Dad reaches out, patting my leg. “We love you, darling.”
“We are all upstairs near the bar if you want to come and join us.”
“Maybe later,” I grumble.
“We will let you get back to what you were doing then.”
As they leave, I turn back to the little girl and wish I could be that carefree again. She doesn’t have to worry about crap like this.
“Why do you have my niece?”
I glance up, smiling as Hayden drops herself down in the sun lounger next to me.
“Niece?” I question, wondering if I heard her right.
“Technically my second cousin but we’re all her aunties and uncles.”
“She snuck over earlier and fell asleep. Don’t worry, Mark knows where she is.”
“He wouldn’t be alive if he didn’t,” she muses. “Your nan is adopting me, by the way.”
“Mynan?”
She grins as she slides her shorts down her legs, revealing the thong bikini bottoms she bought with Mark’s money. “Yes. If she hadn’t said it first, all of us would have adopted her. She’s flipping awesome. Did you know she got kicked out of Vegas because of her lucky streak?”
“She counts cards,” I admit sheepishly. “There’s no lucky streak about it so don’t go playing against her.”
Her eyes widen. “No way.”
I nod. “Yes. Don’t be surprised if she’s removed from the casino in a couple of days.”
“I love her. I don’t say that lightly either. Me and old people are like oil and water most of the time. My nan set the bar high, but babe, your nan is the shit.”